


Standing at the Edge

by lucdarling



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst and Feels, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Good Relationship, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Inspired by Fanfiction, Minor Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29715120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucdarling/pseuds/lucdarling
Summary: Max knows she shouldn't drink, that it won't do anything to solve her problems. She lifts the bottle to her lips since there's no one around to stop her. It's only her and Neil in the house and he's already passed out.That's how Billy finds her - on the floor drunk in her own bedroom on a Friday night, wedged between her bed and the window.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Billy Hargrove/Original Female Character(s), Maxine "Max" Mayfield & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	Standing at the Edge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alias_B](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alias_B/gifts).
  * Inspired by [sins of my youth.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24138337) by [Alias_B](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alias_B/pseuds/Alias_B). 



> I just can't stop writing Max POV inspired by others! This takes place during some unspecified time in the front half of chapter 24.
> 
> If you haven't read SOMY: Evie, Billy's girlfriend is the girl next door with a neglectful mother Mona. Neil has lost his job so he spends his days in the house, drinking away money the family doesn't have so Susan is working two jobs. Max was attacked by a stranger after her birthday party some weeks back and she's still processing. S2 canon events are happening in the background of SOMY so they are referenced here.
> 
> This is for my darling Bee, who cheerleads and supports me with unfailing enthusiasm. Thank you. <3

Max finds the bottle in his room, badly hidden under a pair of smelly basketball shorts Billy hasn’t worn in at least a week. It’s half empty.

She takes it, and the blanket off his bed. Spring is in the air but winter’s chill lingers.

Max unscrews the black cap and makes a face as the smell hits her. Pungent, in a different way than Neil’s empties she put in the recycling bin so her mom doesn’t have to.

She misses her mom. Her work schedule means she’s home just long enough to check on Max’s homework and then she’s out the door again until breakfast.

She tilts the bottle towards her mouth. A little sip, since that’s what people do when they drink, right? Max has seen it on tv, in movies, now in real life on the couch in the other room. People drink and they cry and they get sad. Or angry.

Max has enough anger and sadness in her. They twist together, like colored ropes winding tighter around her ribcage.

The liquid burns her throat but she doesn’t cough. It’s not her first time trying alcohol and looking at her so-called family, this is just the first step down a well-worn path which lays before her.

Max takes another sip, and then a third.

Neil turns over on the couch in the next room, snuffling. Billy’s bedroom door is open so she doesn’t have to see him, but Max can hear just fine.

She wraps the blanket around herself like a cape. It’s warm and soft, almost like a hug. Max can’t remember the last time her mom hugged her and that hurts. She takes another sip to dull the pain. The bottle’s neck dangles from her fingers when she stands.

There’s nowhere to hide in Billy’s room, Max realizes. Her stomach feels warm now too. In her room, she can fit in the space under the bed and also in a nook between her nightstand and the wall, almost under the window.

That’s where she’ll go, just in case Neil wakes up.

Max tiptoes between her room and Billy’s, blanket cape of protection over her shoulders and one eye kept on Neil’s slumbering form. He doesn’t stir from where his head is tilted back on his recliner. There’s a half empty bottle next to him and at least two at his feet.

Max settles down under the window, tucked away. She takes another swallow from the bottle.

That’s how Billy finds her some unknown time later, huddled and a little more than half drunk in her own bedroom. The night is dark, stars peeping out from their cloud cover and Max doesn’t even know when the sun set.

He crouches down and plucks the bottle where it sits between her sneakers. “Jesus Maxine, you’re a little young to be jumping on the family bandwagon.” He’s still in his nice shirt from taking Evie out, pendant shining against his chest in the glow of the streetlight.

“Max,” she corrects belligerently. “And I thought I’d get a head start, not like you were any better at my age.”

“I was downing beers at your age, not hard liquor,” Billy corrects. He reaches a hand towards her to pull her out and Max presses against the wall. Away from him.

His hand drops like a puppet with its strings cut and Billy takes a deep breath.

“Any reason you’re hiding in your room?” _Are you hurt?_ is the question not asked in words.

Max hiccups. “Neil’s been asleep for hours. Mom’s at work again and you weren’t here. You all just left me!” She curls up tighter. “You’re always leaving me here with him.”

Billy’s face does something complicated, mask cracking open.

“Max, I need to know. Did my dad do anything to you today?”

She snorts, finds it funny that he has to specify _today_ like it’s different than any other day in the household since Neil got fired.

“Max.”

She shakes her head, her own hair hitting her in the face like little blunt knives. The motion makes her dizzy. “No, just yelling. He looked at me when I didn’t bring him a bottle fast enough.” She narrows her eyes at Billy’s blond head like Neil did to her, right before he threw the empty bottle that she ducked.

She doesn’t tell Billy that happened, since she cleaned up all the shards that lay glittering on the carpet like diamonds.

“I wish I was a diamond,” Max muses as she thinks about the incident. “Then nothing could hurt me again.”

Billy’s face twists further and he sets a hand on her ankle. Gentle, he’s so gentle with Max now. She’s glad for it, likes this version of Billy who wears a girl’s scrunchie around his wrist and takes her to the arcade without too much complaint. He’s stopped yelling at her, ever since her birthday party. She doesn’t like to think about that at all.

“I know, Max.” Billy’s grip on her ankle tightens a little and he shakes her leg. “You gonna come out from that hiding spot? Picked a pretty good one.”

“I know,” Max states proudly, another hiccup escaping at the end. “Can’t get me here.”

“With my blanket,” Billy sounds amused. Max huffs at him, wraps it tighter around herself and holds it closed with her fists clenched in the soft fabric. “You planning to sleep here, propping up the wall?”

“Where else am I gonna go? Mom’s working the overnight shift.” Max asks, confused. She knows there’s her bed a few feet away but getting up, moving, seems like such a hassle. When her mom isn’t in the house, Billy sometimes lets her sleep in his room. She didn’t know if he’d be home tonight.

Neither are sure of Neil’s moods nowadays, how far he’ll go.

“Yeah, I know.” Billy sighs again. “I think I’ve worked something out with Evie. Remember how she lives next door?”

“Hard to forget,” Max shoots back. “What with the way you stare at her window like a lovesick puppy.”

“I do not,” Billy grumbles and Max giggles. Then she’s laughing and she can’t stop.

“Oh, you are really wasted.” Billy says, more to himself than to Max. She’s still laughing, sides shaking and starting to hurt. “C’mon kid, take a deep breath. You’re fine, just need some water and sleep it off. Wasted at fourteen, Sue is gonna kill me and they’ll never find the body.”

“No, she won’t,” Max says, laughter gone. Jokes about death don’t sit right, not after everything she’s seen in this town. Billy has no idea and Max wants to keep it that way.

“I know,” Billy reassures. He’s being gentle again and this time it’s weird. Max isn’t fragile, no matter what he thinks. “You ready to move? Evie was all excited to do your hair or something, I dunno.”

“Sounds more like Mona,” Max rolls her eyes. “Evie’s nice, Billy. You shouldn’t scare her away by being dumb.” She accentuates her point by flicking him in the forehead. It means she has to crawl out of her little hidey hole but that’s okay. Billy’s here now, he’ll protect her if she needs.

She hates being protected but knows sometimes it’s better to let Billy do what he wants.

“Get up, shortstack.” Billy says. His hands are firm when they haul her upright. The bottle has disappeared somewhere, and the blanket falls to the ground as it slips from her shoulders.

Max makes a sad sound. “I liked that.”

“Fine, we’ll take it with us.”

“Where are we going?”

“To Evie’s, drunkie. We’re gonna sleep there tonight.”

Max nods her head, slowly, as the words process.

Billy opens her window slowly, as quiet as possible. It slides up easily, not sticking like it usually does. “You oil the tracks?”

“Did yours too,” Max says as she clambers onto the roof of the woodpile. Its presence makes it a lot easier for her to sneak out of the house, unlike Billy’s room where he has to jump into the bushes. She isn’t sure if he even bothers, since his bedroom door is right next to the front door.

“Thanks.” Billy follows her in quick order and eases the window down. He plucks her from the little roof and sets Max on the ground, shifting both hands from her waist to her shoulders.

“I’m not letting you puke in Evie’s bed,” Billy warns. 

Max doesn’t feel like she’s going to, she can handle her liquor just fine, she’s certain. She opens her mouth just as Billy socks her in the stomach and it comes pouring out as she doubles over.

“Oh, you asshole!” Max spits at his feet when she’s finished leaning over the bushes. “I wasn’t going to upchuck until you made me!”

“You’re drunk, Max, forgive me if I don’t trust your judgement right now.” Billy doesn’t sound sorry. “Need to do it again?”

“No.” Max frowns, right before she turns and retches again.

Billy waits her out, chatting easily with Evie at her window a few feet away. Max’s eyes are filled with tears from the humiliation but she wipes at them and her mouth before she raises her head toward the two teenagers.

They’re kissing like something out of Romeo and Juliet, Evie’s painted nails clutching the windowsill and Billy’s hands sunk into her dark hair.

“You’re gross,” Max tells them. They both turn to her, lips shining in the light from Evie’s bedroom.

“Come here, you stinky gremlin. You’re plenty gross yourself right now but good job on missing your shoes, I guess.” Billy beckons. “You got an extra toothbrush for the walking distillery?”

“Yeah, I’ll find one.” Evie shakes her head and turns her kind eyes on Max. “You feel up to some toast? Maybe you should have something in your stomach before you sleep.”

“No,” Billy disagrees even as he lifts Max up to be pushed through the window. “It’ll just come back up, and Max is not going to puke on your sheets. She’ll be fine until morning.”

“Water sounds good,” Max says dreamily from where she lays on the floor.

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Billy nudges her with a boot before he toes it off. “Bathroom’s across the hall, if you got any more left in you.”

Evie returns with the promised water and Max drinks it down as soon as she manages to sit upright. She didn’t know she was so thirsty, it’s cool going down her throat. Like she’s a dry creek bed made full again.

Her stomach sloshes even as Evie and Billy both warn her to take it slow.

“Across the hall, shitbird.” Billy reminds her in a flat voice. “You’re a guest here.”

“I’ve also got a trash can, Max.” Evie tells her, voice quiet again. Her eyes are dark and Max is too drunk to pick out the emotions even though Evie usually wears her heart on her sleeve. “No one’s gonna judge you here. It’s not like Mr. Keg King over here hasn’t made a mess of himself before.”

“Says the Keg Queen who ruined my shoes.” Billy pushes her gently to the bed, rolling over her form to lay on her other side and cop a feel. Max giggles at his lack of subtlety.

“Stop it,” Evie says playfully. Max can tell she doesn’t really mean it. The words they’re saying go in one ear and fall into the soft cotton that’s filling her brain. She slumps against the wall, Billy’s blanket still around her as security.

“You want the bed, sweetie?” Evie asks. Her curls fall in her face when she leans over the mattress. “You’ll be more comfortable.”

“Not allowed if I might puke,” Max parrots back Billy’s message. She heaves herself to her feet. “Gonna go to the bathroom, maybe I’ll feel better if my teeth aren’t so fuzzy.”

“Okay, Max.” Evie answers. “My mom is out of the house tonight with her new man, so don’t worry if you make some noise.”

Max wobbles out of the bedroom as Billy opens his mouth.

She splashes some water on her face, stares at herself in the mirror. Who is looking back at her? Max sees her familiar freckles, red-rimmed eyes and pale skin. It’s the middle of the night and she’s standing in the bathroom of her brother’s girlfriend because her own house isn’t safe.

She watches the two of them with heavy eyes, standing in the doorway of the bathroom as the toothbrush dangles from her closed mouth. Billy and Evie get closer, pause when one of them remembers her presence and then return to becoming one mass in the dim light from her bedroom lamp.

She misses Lucas in that moment, hating herself for pushing him away on a whim and that he always waits to come closer. His eyes are so sweet when they look at her, watching carefully. He treats her like she’s something precious but fierce. Max likes holding that power, likes knowing she can have Lucas at her side if only she asked. It’s one of the reasons she doesn’t dare, knows he deserves better than to get caught up in the hurricane of her life. Somehow Lucas still hasn’t figured out she’s an explosion waiting to be set off.

Just the thought of someone touching her who isn’t Lucas makes her shiver, memory sneaking up her spine to wreak havoc on her dulled senses.

Her knees hit the tile just before Max doubles over the toilet. Guess she has some left, after all. She cries when she’s done, cool porcelain against the top of her head and where her arm wraps around the bowl.

“That’s it, Max. Just let it out.” Evie’s hands feel so nice, fingers resting against the back of her neck as she holds Max’s red hair away from her sweaty face. “You’ll be okay, Max.”

“No I won’t,” Max croaks. She gathers a wad of toilet paper in her hand, wipes at her mouth and flushes it all away. “Everything is just bad.”

“I know it feels that way, you’re young.”

“Don’t patronize me!” Max snaps as she lowers the toilet lid and slumps over it. She waits for Evie’s hand to leave her, to hear her footsteps pad back to her warm bed and Billy’s waiting arms.

Instead, Evie starts to card her fingers through Max’s tangles, taking care when she hits a snag.

“I’m not.” Evie says calmly. Max can’t look at her but arches into her soft touch all the same.

“Your life sucks right now but there’s some bits of it that are nice. You’ve got Lucas and Dustin and the other boys. Billy isn’t so bad, when he’s not being a idiotic boy, am I right?”

“I guess,” Max mutters. She hasn’t decided to forgive him for punching her earlier tonight.

“You’ve got me and Carol too, I hope you know that.” Evie starts braiding Max’s hair, little tugs as she weaves the plait. “Your mom loves you a lot, Max. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for you.”

Max sobs at that falsehood. “Then why won’t she leave him?”

Evie is quiet for a long minute and Max cries into her folded arms. She’s still on the bathroom floor, her head hurts and her mom is hardly ever home. Billy’s got some new job he won’t tell anyone about and he looks more exhausted each day.

Max can’t do anything about any of it. Sneaking her quarters into Billy’s jacket pocket proved useless, all he did was dump them on her desk when he figured it out. Her mom had looked so very sad when Max offered her arcade money that she hadn’t dared to try again.

She’s only fourteen, too young to hold a job. She can’t really help much, except to clean up after Neil when he rages which means dodging his grasping hands and trying not to let his words stick in her mind.

“My life is awful,” Max whines. It feels like the world is weighing down her shoulders. She wipes at her nose, her eyes with more toilet paper.

“I know it is, Max. I’m sorry,” Evie tells her, voice hushed. “Maybe things will look a bit better in the morning? At the very least, I can send you on your way with a greasy breakfast. That will help your hangover.”

Max groans with her eyes closed. “Just leave me here, I can sleep in the tub. Won’t get in your way even.”

“Oh.” Evie’s surprise is almost tangible, even to Max’s drunken self. “You’re not in the way, Max. Not now, and not ever. Anytime you need me or my bed, or just an ear to listen to your problems. I’m here for you, okay?”

Max shakes her head. She knows Evie means well but also that she’s dealing with other things. Things bigger than Max’s own perpetually drunk step-dad and worried mother she hardly sees, or how lately Max eats lunch at school and it’s the only meal of the day she gets.

“I know, Evie.” Max manages the words around her weighted tongue. “You’re real nice. Billy should keep you.”

“I don’t think I’d mind that,” Evie laughs quietly. “So long as I could keep him too.”

“Yeah, ‘f course.” Max says, confused why Evie wouldn’t. “He’s dumb but he likes you a lot.”

“I know, Max.” Evie’s soft hand is back, petting over Max’s head. “You think you’re ready to get some sleep now?”

“Sleep sounds good,” Max answers, letting loose a jaw cracking yawn right in Evie’s face.

They both giggle afterward, Evie’s hand wrapped around Max’s waist as she leads her to bed.

“Here, you stay on the outside so it’s easier to leave the bed if you need. I put the trash can here too, just in case.”

Evie lays down in the middle and Billy’s arm comes over without warning, pulls her close. Max stands on the empty side of the bed, eyes gritty and feet leaden. Bed sounds good but where exactly does she fit into this picture?

“Get in bed, shitbird.” Billy orders, half asleep with one eye cracked open to glare at her through Evie’s curls. “Stop thinking so much. Sleep will do you good.”

“Like you’re one to talk. You don't ever think.” Max snaps back with no heat. She does as she’s told though, sinking into the warmth of Evie’s soft sheets and cool pillow. Her eyes close without her permission and Max is asleep before she knows it.

Maybe Evie’s right, the morning will look better. All Max can do is hope.


End file.
